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Review |
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If somebody asks me to check out a dance or drum
n bass band I normally run a mile, as the dance
and drum n bass scene is something that I just can’t
get into, I have tried on a few occasions but failed,
I can’t think of anything worse than listening
to the same beat going on for 30 minutes non stop,
not even all the dancing dust in the world would
get me enjoying this kind of music. However if you
ask me to check out a dance band with some half
decent vocals, a punk feel or totally unique sound
then I will most probably enjoy it as over the years
I have enjoyed releases from Basement Jaxx, The
Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy and now Pendulum.
Pendulum are an Australian based band who formed
in 2002, I never really heard of Pendulum until
the end of 2007 when they released their single
'Granite', the song was a great mixture of dance
and rock music, with dance synths going off all
over the place alongside rocking riffs and spacey
sounding aggressive vocals giving the song an
industrial dance feel which is something like
the Prodigy mixed with Nine Inch Nails. 'Granite'
was a great single and got me slightly into Pendulum,
but it was the follow up single 'Propane Nightmares’,
which got me hooked on the band, the song was
epic it had a perfect mix of dance and rock and
was packed with energy.
Since the release of 'Granite' and 'Propane Nightmares'
Pendulum have gone on to release their second
album 'In Silico' which includes both singles
plus 8 other brand new tracks. The album starts
of on a major high with 'Showdown', the song is
epic and packed with energy, there are many high
powered quality synths and dance beats running
through the song and at such a fast pace sounding
like some high speed chase action scene from a
blockbuster Hollywood movie.
'Different' follows on from 'Showdown' with electronic
beats galore and keyboardist Rob Swire's dark
sounding vocals cropping up every now and again
showing a different side to Pendulums music. 'Visions'
starts up with some vocals which has been heavily
synthed over to make them sound like a robot,
the song has a Daft Punk 'Around The World' style
feel to it which works well.
With 'In Silico' Pendulum have packed the album
with a proper mix, there are songs that mix dance
and rock music together and there are songs that
are pure dance for example 'Midnight Runner' is
a full of dance song that starts off quite slow
but builds up to such a fast paced peak that when
it gets going you can just imagine people at Pendulum
shows spinning around like fools after taking
a couple of disco biscuits.
The album finishes with 'The Tempest' a track
that is just as huge and epic as the opening track,
it starts off quite chilled out with some really
laid back talk along vocals from Rob Swire, the
synths running through the start of the song sound
like something out of the movie Saw where at the
end everything is put together and this freaky
music runs whilst they are finishing off the story,
the synths towards the end of the song are uplifting,
happy and totally worth waiting for. 'The Tempest'
sounds more like a stadium rock song than it does
a Pendulum song, but it does show Pendulum in
a mature way and this could well be the way the
band want to progress when it comes to album number
three.
'In Silico' is a true mix of dance and rock music,
a mix that Pendulum have managed to work together
perfectly, the album is a real mix but I think
there is enough variety on there to please most
people. I know a lot of people have gone off Pendulum
since there new found mixed sound which was first
found in their single 'Granite' and is now heavily
found in their second album 'In Silico', I can’t
really comment on this as I don’t know to
much about the bands earlier music and debut album
'Hold Your Colour' but what I do know is 'In Silico'
has brought Pendulum in a whole new genre of fans
and have made them bigger than many people could
of imagined when they first came on the scene.
4/5
Review by Trigger |
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| Band
Members |
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Rob Swire (vocals/synth/producer)
Gareth McGrillen (bass guitar/producer/DJ)
Perry Ap-Gwynedd (guitar)
Paul 'El Hornet' Harding (DJ)
Kodish (drums) |
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| Track
Listing |
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1. Show Down
2. Different
3. Propane Nightmares
4. Visions
5. Midnight Runner
6. The Otherside
7. Mutiny
8. 9,000 Miles
9. Granite
10. The Tempest |
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| Band
Related Links |
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| Review
Score Code |
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- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
-
What Was That? |
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